Fuji Heavy Industries to be renamed SUBARU Corp

Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) has announced that it will change its name to SUBARU Corporation; the change expected to take place in April of 2017, if shareholders in Fuji approve of the proposal.

FHI claims that the name change is part of its broader plans to "enhance the Subaru brand and to achieve even greater growth for Subaru as a distinctive global brand in the automotive and aerospace industries." Subaru has rapidly become the flagship division for FHI in recent years with the brand recording tremendous sales during the late 1990s as well as the early to mid-2000s. The company's auto sales are still growing to this day, with overall sales expected to surpass 1 million units for the fiscal year which ends in March of 2017.

This name change was made despite FHI's long history in the marketplace. The company traces its origins back to 1917 when the Aircraft Research Laboratory was established. Roughly a year later, this small company was renamed Nakajima Aircraft Factory, and eventually grew to the point where it was renamed Nakajima Aircraft Co, LTD in 1931. During WWII, Nakajima was the primary manufacturer of Japanese warplanes. The company built the formidable Ki-43 fighter plane, as well as the Kikka jet fighter prototype which was the first jet-powered aircraft ever produced in Japan. It was still in testing when the war ended.

After WWII the company was reorganized as Fuji Sangyo CO., Ltd. and shifted its focus from the aerospace industry to civilian goods. This lasted until 1950 when it was split into 12 different companies with six of the firms eventually joining forces to create Fuji Heavy Industries.

By 1954, FHI began making automobiles. The Subaru name is derived from the Japanese word for the Pleiades star cluster. In addition to this intergalactic reference, the name was also chosen to represent the six companies that comprised Fuji Heavy Industries. Look for the unified name to simplify the company's marketing plans, especially since all of its advertising will be under one brand name instead of two.